Quote
arthurwolf
Just an example : Smoothie does not just do "faster" step generation, it does "better" step generation : the step interrupt is run at a constant 100khz and the other axes follow that, resulting into smoother ( smoother here means "less rough", or if you prefer "closer to an ideal theoretical step pulse", is that still too "wobbly" of a term ??? ) step generation compared to the classical bresenham step generation ( where slower axes follow the faster axis ).
And that's just one thing amongst many others. Combined, all these result in faster, quieter, more "correct" ( again as in : closer to ideal ) printing with less artifacts.
Likewise, printers running Duet electronics sound smoother since I changed the firmware from using the Bresenham algorithm to calculating the step times precisely (to about the nearest microsecond) - for example, see [forums.reprap.org]. The limiting factor in achieving this is the time taken to calculate the square root of a 64-bit number, which needs to be done for every step during the acceleration and deceleration phases. The generation of steps for linear delta moves requires a further square root for every step. There is no way that an 8-bit mcu would be fast enough to calculate these square roots.
I'm not disputing that 8-bit MCUs can be used to control 3D printers, but I believe they are far from an optimal solution.